I have a Dell Inspiron 5150 that the DC adapter jack has come loose and cracked the motherboard in the process. Is there any way to repair motherboard instead of replacing?

There are some troubleshooting steps for this sort of problem:
laptop plugged in not charging:

1. Take the battery out of the laptop & try to turn on the laptop using power adapter only. If the computer turns on, then the battery is defective & needs to be replaced.
2. Make sure your dell inspiron 1545 power adapter is not defective. Test the output voltage of the power adapter using a voltmeter. Compare the voltmeter reading to the nominal value written on the adapter or the laptop.
3. Make sure the DC jack is not loose or broken. A loose DC jack will need to be re-soldered. A broken one will need to be replaced.
4. If you have another processor which is compatible with your laptop's model, try swapping processors & test to see if the laptop will work.
5. The power button could be bad
6. The motherboard could be defective & needs to be replaced.

You are right, most of the situations like this end up that the charging connector fixed / soldered to the motherboard get damaged because of shaking the connector when ever we connect and disconnect it .

The jack on the laptop that you plug the AC adapter (Charger) into, is called a DC Power Jack.

http://www.laptopjacks.com/view_part/Dell-Inspiron-9300-Laptop-DC-Power-Jack-DL111500.html

I would like you to click on the photos of the jack. (3 views shown. Has www.laptopjacks.com on it)

The middle photo, and the photo to the right, shows copper prongs that protrude out of the jack.

The view to the right shows the jack upside down, in relation to how it's mounted on the motherboard.
The prongs go through the motherboard, and are soldered to circuit traces on the motherboard.
(For simplification, think of circuit traces as being very thin flat copper wires on the motherboard)

There is data stating that the solder joints have a tendency to crack, even with normal usage of just plugging, and unplugging the AC adapter.
It is also stated that the motherboard area where the DC Power Jack is mounted, is of a bad design.
Many have had the motherboard replaced, ($400 to $500), only to have the same problem come up later.

It has also been stated that the manufacturer states replacing the AC adapter, but has been shown to no avail in solving the problem.
Same thing comes up for the Dell Inspiron e1705.
(I know, I'm just a 'Ray of Sunshine')

A cracked solder joint, or cracked solder joints make an intermittent contact. When the DC Power Jack is in a certain position with the AC adapter plugged in, the contact may be good. Moved around by plugging in the AC adapter again, the position may change, and result in an intermittent contact, or no contact at all.

Result?
Laptop will not power off of the AC adapter, nor will the AC adapter charge the battery.
This is the reason why the laptop will run straight off of the battery, but the battery isn't being charged back up.

It could also be that the damage is further than a cracked solder joint, or cracked solder joints.
One of the prongs could have come loose from it's mounting, and no longer be attached to the pin it's supposed to be attached to.

[ The AC adapter converts AC {Alternating Current} electricity from your household, or business, into DC electricity.
{Direct Current. Batteries are an example of stored DC electricity}

DC uses two connections. A Positive connection, and a Negative connection.
One of the prongs is for the Positive connection, another one is for the Negative connection. The other prongs are used for stability, to mount the DC Power Jack in place to the motherboard. Generally the center pin/s are for a Positive connection, the outer pin/s are for the Negative connection ]

Unless I had the laptop in my hand, I can only give you a generalization of what may be wrong, and the possible solution to repair it.

1) All power to the laptop removed, (AC adapter and Battery), see if you can wiggle the DC Power Jack around. Any perceptible movement is bad.

2) Past this point the laptop will have to be completely disassembled, down to the bare motherboard in your hand. Requires visual inspection of the solder joints for the DC Power Jack, and the surrounding circuit traces.

It may be something as simple as resoldering a cracked solder joint. (Or joints)
It may go further into replacing the DC Power Jack.
It may still go further if the area on the motherboard where the DC Power Jack is mounted, has cracked.

You or a tech may not be able to mount a new DC Power Jack.
This would require a workaround, IF feasible. Won't be aesthetically appealing, however.

http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2006/05/27/failed-laptop-power-jack-workaround/

Dell Support > Inspiron 9300 Notebook PC > Service Manual,

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins9300/sm/index.htm

Older Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop, but linked to show you more about replacing a DC Power Jack, and the required 'little things'. Such as properly cleaning the solder joint area on the circuit trace, that a prong for the DC Power jack, goes through, and is soldered to.

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/remove-motherboard-repair-dc-power-jack-dell-inspiron-1300-b120-b130-laptop/

You may find this useful also,

http://www.coredatarecovery.com/how-to-repair-a-bad-power-jack-on-a-dell-inspiron-51501100-series-laptop-for-under-2000/

Click on - Dell 5150/1100 series Slideshow
(Author Charles House)

1) Buy an wear an ESD wrist strap. (Electro Static Discharge) The average cost is around $3 to $8.
Connect the alligator clip to a good ground source. I connect to the metal frame of an empty desktop computer case.
Observe Anti-Static Precautions.

[Your body carries static electricity. Static will fry out (Short Circuit) the hardware components inside a computer. Wear the ESD wrist strap, and connect it to a good ground when working on the laptop.
Should you leave in the middle of working on your laptop, upon your return be SURE to put the ESD wrist strap back on ]

2) There may be as many as 60 screws, and 12 different types of screws. Do Not mix them up.
Use a multi-compartment container for the screws. Mark each compartment for the area the screws came out of. Do not stack them neatly on a table. Recipe for disaster.
You can use a clean egg container in a pinch. Mark each egg holder.

3) Use Solder Wick, (Desoldering Braid) to remove the old solder. Do not use a Desoldering Tool.

4) Make sure the area of the circuit trace that you have removed solder from is CLEAN. The links above will detail more about this. Make sure the circuit trace areas are pre-tinned with solder, before inserting the DC Power Jack's prongs. Don't worry if the hole in the circuit trace is covered with solder from tinning.
You can heat it up to insert the prong. (One prong at a time)

5) DO NOT linger too long with the soldering iron, (40 to 50 Watt) This can render a circuit trace useless.
It will burn it, (And the motherboard), and render the circuit trace useless from accepting the tinning.
(Solder it applied to the area to be soldered in a light coat. = Tinning)
Linger too long, and you can lift the circuit trace right off of the motherboard.

For further questions please state in a Comment.
Regards,
joecoolvette

One possibility is that the power cord attaching the power adapter to the DC jack in the laptop might be broken or damaged. Inspect it visually to verify this possibility.
Also, try measuring the DC output from the power adapter's outlet to make sure it is providing the correct output voltage needed to run the laptop (if at all).
Another possibility is that the DC jack where the power adapter connects to the laptop might be either loose or damaged, & needs to be either re-soldered or replaced. However, in order to do this, you will need to disassemble the laptop & get the motherboard out.
If this did not work, there might be a possibility that the charging circuitry on the laptop's motherboard is defective & needs servicing. In order to do this, the laptop needs to be disassembled & the motherboard checked for defective/burned out components in the area near the DC jack. Any defective/burned out components found should be replaced, or you might need to replace the laptop's motherboard altogether.

A problem is just like a mountain. You don't jump over the mountain, you climb it in steps, one step at a time.

1.How old is the battery? 1 to 2 years old, you can expect it to be at the end of it's Life Cycle. Batteries are rated in so many hours of usage.
Best bet is to let the battery charge 24 hours, then try it.

Would be nice if you someone else that has an Inspiron 1525, and they would try to charge your battery. If it doesn't charge up, you would know it's the battery. If it does charge up you can move on down the charging system, to try to find the problem.

2.AC adapter, (Charger) If you have a multimeter, set it to the 50 volt DC scale.
Laptop and desktop computers use DC current. (Direct Current) Your house, for example, uses AC current, (Alternating Current)
AC is converted to DC by the AC adapter, (Charger)

An example of DC current are flashlight batteries, and your laptop battery.
DC current has a Positive pole, and a Negative pole.
The center pin of the plug of your AC adapter is the Positive pole. Any of the four outside pins on the plug, are Negative.
The Red, (Positive), probe of the multimeter goes to the center pin. The Black, (Negative), probe goes to any of the outside four pins on that plug.
Example of a DC Power Jack, for the Dell Inspiron 1500 Series of laptops, 1525 and 1526, (This is the jack inside your laptop, where you plug the AC adapter into),
http://www.megaemarket.com/dc-power-jack-for-dell-inspiron-150150015011505.html

3.It may be that DC Power Jack itself is bad, or one of the solder connections is cracked. It's hard to see it clearly on the link I provided, (So I Right-clicked on it, Save Image As, and put it right in my My Pictures folder. Then I magnified it), but in the photo you will see some metal pins sticking out of the rectangular body.

The metal pins are sticking up. In reality those pins go down, when the jack is mounted on the motherboard. They go through the motherboard, via holes, and are soldered on the other side.
It is these solder joints that may crack, is what I'm referring to.

Solution to 1?
Obviously buy a new battery.

Solution to 2?
If your multimeter findings show lower voltage than needed, it's time to buy a new AC adapter. They have generic ones that can be used on a variety of laptops. The voltage will be stated on the top of the AC adapter.
Example: 19.2V-1.0A
That's 19.2 Volts at 1 AMP.

It may just be the plug end on the AC adapter itself. The plug end that goes into the DC Power Jack, on your Inspiron laptop.

Solution to 3?
Unless you are a skilled Electronics Technician, and have Excellent de-soldering/soldering skills, I advise taking it to a computer repair shop. It may not just be cracked solder joints. The DC Power Jack may need to be replaced. Maybe the motherboard is one of a bad design, and where the DC Power Jack attaches to it, has cracked.

You have either a faulty connector plug on the power adapter which connects into the laptop or the loose power input socket on the laptop is faulty. This is because you need to press the connector upwards to make electrical contact.
Test the connectot plug on the power adapter with a multi-meter, wriggle the connector to see if your get the voltage to fluctuate, if it does not then the connector is OK anf the fault is in the laptop power input socket.
If the fault is in the power adapter plug or the laptop's power input socket, this can be repaired, a techo would have no trouble in repairing these faults.

The loose connection for the AC adapter means the motherboard needs to be replaced or the AC adapter jack on the motherboard needs to be replaced. (With Labor, it is about the same cost to buy a new motherboard as it is to have the old one fixed)

Motherboards are available on EBay for around $100

you can buy a new ac jack on ebay.
ac/dc jack

Contact www.e-techsiliconvalley.com
They are laptop repair expert. Give my name (Farhang) as reference and ask for help.

hi, the power jack must be removed by a strip out and de solder of jack and a new one fitted. I was lucky a guy took £30 for the job.